Racism...or Was It?

In her column in the Lexington Herald-Leader of 07 March, Merlene Davis described what appears to have been an overt incident involving racism in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Ms. Davis provided no recognizable source for her information, such as the Associated Press or some other newspaper or media outlet, but apparently considered her source to be accurate.

According to Davis, two African-American nuns (though not in uniform) were denied service by a white waitress in a restaurant in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, on 25 February. The restaurant was described as busy, but apparently with only one waitress on duty. One of the nuns claimed that the waitress simply refused to serve her when they inquired as to why it was taking so long to order. Davis remarked that this information came from a television report, but didn’t indicate what report or where it originated or if she saw the report.

The upshot of the matter was that the police were called, showed up, and asked the women to leave, explaining that they had received a call “saying the waitress had been threatened.” One of the nuns said, according to Davis, “And we basically said that’s not true.” No meaning was given for the term “basically.”

Predictably (and perhaps justifiably), the Sisters of Notre Dame, the order in which the nuns are members, contacted the headquarters of Ramada Inn, in whose facility the restaurant was located, and lodged a complaint. According to Davis, the Connecticut NAACP “has waded into the battle” and “the nuns want a full investigation and a public apology.” Davis didn’t define the nature of the battle or identify the entities involved in it.

The purpose of these words is not to say that racism was not in evidence or that the nuns were not mistreated. Rather, it is attempted here to point out the fact that only one side of this affair has been advanced. Was the waitress purposely refusing to serve the nuns or any other customers? Was she simply overworked? Surely she served African Americans as a routine matter. One out of every ten persons in Connecticut is black. Were the nuns being surly, critical, condescending, patronizing? What did the waitress have to say about what happened? Why did she feel threatened? What did the police have to say, other than why they had received the complaint? After all, expelling two women from a restaurant is not something they do every day. What did the restaurant’s manager have to say? Ms. Davis quoted the nuns extensively throughout her article. The reader knows what they had to say, but knows nothing about what the others said or saw. What television station aired this account?

This is the kind of stuff that causes people to have so little confidence in the media. If Ms. Davis has access to “the rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey would have it, she should present it, whether it proves the nuns right (presumably her position) or wrong. She passed judgment from afar, quaintly describing the nuns as “angels” and “agents of God.” One wonders.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark